How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog - Part 2

The last tip for the year is the second video about getting free targeted traffic to your blog.

In this week's video you'll learn about 5 good sources for driving traffic to your blog. You can download the video here:

Driving Traffic To You Blog Video 2

Have a safe and happy holiday season!

To Your Success,
Susan

Please rate this tip. Thanks

Tags: targeted traffic, targeted visitors, advertising, get free blog traffic, how to drive traffic to blog

How To Drive Traffic to Your Blog - Part 1

For the last 2 tips this year I'm sharing a couple of videos on getting free targeted traffic to your blog.

In this week's video you'll learn how to use 2 good sources for driving traffic to your blog. You can download the video here:

Drive Traffic To You Blog Video 1

Next week's video will show you 5 more sources.

To Your Success,
Susan

Please rate this idea. Thanks

Tags: targeted traffic, targeted visitors, targeted advertising, get free blog traffic, how to drive traffic to blog

"How To Do Fixed Position Images"

If you read the classifieds for December 2, 2008 you already know what today's tip is all about.

If you missed that issue then you missed another free gift but you can still get this week's tip.

To see what fixed position images are and get the directions for how to do them read my CSS Postion Fixed Tutorial.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. In a recent blog post by Bob Jenkins he said:
"Become a giver instead of a taker/consumer. You’ll be amazed at what that transformation does for the future of your business."

With that thought in mind please join us in our free gift exchange.

Please rate this idea. Thanks

Tags: css position fixed, free css template.position a div and then fix, web programming help tutorials css, html css code examples

December 1, 2008

David just earned the Alexa 1st place award inside our member area for 1 of his sites and now he's got a new site that he's really excited about.

http://www.myultimaterotator.com/

Just scroll down toward the bottom of the page and see his rotator in action.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: featured site, free ad rotator

Some Gifts We Can All Afford

Image via Wikipedia

By now you've all seen a lot of email about some of the Thanksgiving and Christmas Giveaways going on this year. You may have also noticed that I haven't been adding any of them to the newsletter and wondered why.

The main reason I haven't is that while I still think they are a good way to help build your list I just haven't had the time.

Besides, many of us who've been online for awhile are tired of them.

So rather than join into the giveaway mania with everyone else this year I've decided to do some things a little different.

The first thing I've done is I've started an Exchange of Cheap Gift Ideas on my personal blog. The purpose of this exchange is to give some new ideas for good gifts that don't cost much. I've started the exchange with 10 ideas from my family however to make the exchange worthwhile we need your inexpensive gift ideas too. Please leave your ideas as a comment and you may include a link to your site.

The second thing I'd like to do is have this post be a digital gift exchange. Rather than have people become members of someone's list to get access and then sign-up to someone else's list to get the gift I propose we just exchange links to free digital gifts. The gifts can be just about anything that is totally free and could be of use to someone.

The only restrictions to our digital gift exchange are:

1. You must have the right to give the gift.


2. You may include your link however you may not require someone to sign up to get it.


3. Neither the gifts nor the links are allowed to promote hate, violence, sex or anything illegal. Gifts and links deemed inappropriate by the publisher for the general audience will be deleted.

Here are 3 gifts to get us started:

• The IDM Toolbox contains a screen capture tool, sticky notes, a color picker and more.


• 42 Free Online Image And Template Generators are listed inside this free PDF ebook.


• A free copy of "10 Internet Marketing Statements You Need To Understand Before You Give Up On Your Online Business" can be found at the bottom of http://www.susancarrollhome.com/prudent-resellers/

I hope you'll take part in our digital gift exchange by leaving a comment with your gift. And if you happen to find either a dead link or an gift that violates the rules please contact me by clicking on my name at the bottom of my newsletter.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. If you have a list feel free to invite them to participate in our gift exchanges. The more the merrier.

Please rate this idea. Thanks

Tags: cheap, inexpensive gift ideas, free gifts, gift exchange, gift idea exchange

How To Create A Free Opinion Poll

Image via Wikipedia

Opinion polls are a good way to do market research and can make your site or blog more sticky. In fact because they're so popular most blog hosts like Blogger and WordPress have a widget or plugin for adding them.

And because they're so popular there are lots of places to get free and paid-for software to create polls.

However if you want to create a poll and

• You don't want to register
• You don't want to invest in either purchasing the software or paying a monthly fee
• You want your poll in an blog post and not in the sidebar

Then here are a couple places you'll want to check out.

For creating polls for your website you can use js-kit.com. You can create multiple polls however they will all look like the 1 I've got at readerspoll.htm and you have to host the page with the poll on your own hosted space.

If you don't have a website and you would like to create a poll you can use anywhere like inside a blog post or in your blog's sidebar you can use pollcode.com. You get a choice on how the poll will look and you can place it inside a blog post like I've done here:

Which do you think is better?
	blogger.com
	wordpress.com
	another bloghost
	a blog hosted on your own domain
	none of the above
pollcode.com free polls

If you'd like to create a poll where people can leave comments like the one below you can get a free one at shout-boxs.com. They host the poll on their site however you will have to register to use the service and you are limited to 1 poll unless you purchase more.

	Poll
Shout-Boxes.com Chat Rooms

Because all of the above are free services you will have to live with some advertising since they're providing the service to make money. When you're ready to start using some professional polling software where you can make money One Minute Poll is a good choice. One Minute Poll has been providing polling services since 2002, it's easy to use, it hosts the polls and the costs are reasonable. You can see everything it provides and get a 30 day free trial at oneminutepoll.com.

Everybody had an opinion about something so why not add a poll to your site and find out what your readers think.

To Your Success,
Susan

Please leave a comment or rate this tip. Thanks

Tags: free opinion poll, create poll, polling software, free poll, shoutbox, one minute poll, oneminutepoll, poll code, polling software, poll software, free poll software

The Answer Is ...

Image via Wikipedia

In my last post I added the following in my P.S.:

"P.S. I used an example within this article however the article itself is an example of something that's done often online. However when it's done correctly you usually can't tell. Do you know what it's an example of?"

Well I must have done it correctly since no one ventured a guess.

Now before I give you the answer click here to see another example.

Have you figured it out yet?

Are you ready for the answer?

Here it is -

I used private label rights content for both! No, I don't use PLR content very often however I've used it to get ideas and as the starting place for both articles and free reports.

Did you know that PLR products are extremely popular right now because they make content and product creation so easy. In fact there are 2 very popular PLR membership sites where many savvy PLR users get their content: Simply PRL and Monthly Content. Now I have to admit that I'm not a member of either since I get a lot of PLR products from another membership site, Crazy Membership. And while I can't personally recommend either of the PLR specific membership sites I did do some research and found only positive reviews for both. As for Crazy Membership, I use it as 1 of my primary resources for my own monthly membership site so yes, I do recommend it as a good site to pick up products.

Now unfortunately some people don't know what PLR products are and of those who do most don't know what to do with them. That means they either

• don't get them


• get them and don't use them


• get them and don't use them correctly

However when you use PLR products the right way it means:

• You don't have to worry about duplicate content


• You don't have to suffer from writers block


• You have a supply of ideas for articles, reports, ebooks and more


• You can reduce the amount of time it takes to create your articles, reports, etc.

It for these reasons that I' m making PLRBrainstorm available here and I'll be adding these video tutorials to the training section of my monthly membership site soon. They're that good.

So now you know what my earlier article was an example of. I hope you learned something both from it and by me revealing my secret about where the content came from.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Tags: brainstorm for writing, private label rights free reports, how to use plr articles content, time writing tips, how to write a newsletter article

Thinking and Problem Solving

Image via Wikipedia

It seems that everyday we encounter new problems. In fact we have so many problems that most people now take problem solving for granted. And it is this familiarity with problem solving that has in fact created yet another problem for us to solve.

Every day we solve so many little problems we're no longer creative with our problem solving.

Now as a child, you were probably much more creative when you had a problem to solve. Your problems were seen with wonder and amazement and you were persistent until they were solved.

As an adult, you probably aren't amazed by your problems and you just want them to solve themselves and go away. That's why you probably continue to use the same methods of solving your problems instead of trying new things.

So how do you wake up your creative problem solving child within you?

First you must learn to view your problems in a different way. Don't focus all your attention on the negative aspects of the problem. Rather focus your attention on the desired outcome when the problem is solved. Like the child who wants a cookie from the cookie jar that's just out of reach. He doesn't focus on the height of the jar. Instead he sees himself holding a cookie.

Second you must learn to ask questions about the problem. While you might think this will make the problem bigger and harder to solve it actually opens the door to finding bigger and better solutions. The child wanting the cookie may ask why the jar is up so high. And knowing the answer will help him develop a solution that can help keep him from caught.

Third you want to do some brainstorming. That means you come up with all kinds of solutions, even those that are unconventional. The cookie wanting child may imagine himself floating to the jar or using his powers of levitation to get the jar to come to him. He may see himself as a great mountain climber or super thief dangling on a rope from the ceiling. A child knows no boundaries when imaging possible solutions to his problem.

Fourth you'll need to think about your listed solutions. Some solutions may have to be thrown out because you can't see any way to implement them. Others may deserve more thought. While the child trying to get a cookie may wish he could fly or had special powers, he knows these solutions won't work. Instead he focuses on using some of the solutions that can be modified like the mountain climbing or the "super thief."

Fifth you must be flexible and willing to try new and unconventional things. The child scaling the mountain may first have to build the mountain out of things that are handy like his step stool, a chair and upside down kettle. He doesn't limit himself to using things for what they were intended. He inventories what's available and devises new ways to use them to achieve his goal.

Just remember, children are master problem solvers because they are not afraid to try anything. They work and experiment and take their time to solve a problem. If something doesn't work they try again because they have fun trying to solve problems. To a child every problem is seen as a challenge or a game.

You as an adult encounter many problems and probably see solving problems as just one more thing you have to do. You probably see them as work and there is nothing fun about them. And many problems like fixing a tire can be solved by using the same solutions you've used in the past. However there are some problems in your work and life that require some thought and new creative solutions.

So the next time you encounter a new problem or an old problem that keeps coming back try using the above steps to awaken your childlike problem solving capability.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. I used an example within this article however the article itself is an example of something that's done often online. However when it's done correctly you usually can't tell. Do you know what it's an example of?

Don't be afraid to leave a comment and take a guess because there are no "wrong" answers. And in a day or so I'll post the answer I'm thinking about.

Susan

Tags: thinking and problem solving, thinking and problem solving problem activities, problem solving, creative thinking, childlike problem solving, unconventional problem solving

Security Alert: Making a Thank You Page

Yesterday I accidentally discovered 1 answer for the question,

how does a hacker hack something like a Digital Download?

Here's what happened.

While doing some keyword research I stumbled across a free video about how to read PDF ebooks online. Now the video showed how to use a downloadable tool to find online PDF ebooks so you could read them free of charge.

And although I wasn't interested in downloading the tool, the video made me curious about the types of advanced searches allowed by Google. So I checked. And sure enough, using Google's advanced search, I could perform the same searches as provided by the tool.

This discovery then made me curious about how secure thank you pages are from Google searches.

Like many online marketers I both sell and give away digital products. However I only want those who have done the desired action, purchase or sign up, to actually reach my Thank You page.

Unfortunately I discovered that many don't take extra security measures to stop internet hackers when they're making a Thank You page and it is very possible to access all types of free and not free digital information.

For instance, yesterday I found the download pages for:

• Dylan Loh's "Clickbank Profit Machine"


• Ewen Chia's "Ebook Money Machine"


• "HOW TO BECOME AN INTERNET MILLIONAIRE" with 3 bonuses


• The Webmaster's Gambling Package with 112 products


• MikeFilsaime "eBook Marketing for Newbies"

All of these products were being sold and the prices ranged from $7.97 to $67.

And while some may call me "stupid" I really do try to be honest. So even though I don't have some of these products I Did Not download any of them. Nor do I encourage anyone else to do so unless they have actually purchased them.

The point I want to make is that you really must take some security measures to protect your digital downloads. And the first step is when you're making your Thank You page.

Here are 5 things you can do to protect your download when making a Thank You page:

1. Include the following meta code in your Thank You page so search engine spiders won't find your page. This will work for many search engines like Google but doesn't work for all of them.
   
   <head>
   <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">
   </head>
   


2. If you have your Thank You page in a directory with no index.html file then either use the Index Manager in cPanel to keep others from seeing the list of files in the directory or create an index.html file that redirects to another page. You can use this redirection code:
   
   <head>
   <META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.yourwebpage.html">
   </head>
   


3. Give your Thank You page and the directory it resides in hard to guess names.
   


4. Put your downloads in a password protected directory and email the password to your customers. Then if others find the Thank You page they still can't access the download.
   


5. Avoid using common keyword search terms on your download page like "thank your for your purchase" or "thank you for your order." You can use graphics and buttons instead.

Now I can't guarantee that taking some or all of these measures will stop all internet hackers from finding your Thank You page or stealing your downloads. However I can guarantee that if you don't take some measures to protect your digital downloads then your downloads are at risk of being found by search engines.

I know that I've been using 2 of the above measures just like the "gurus" whose products I found. But now that I've accidentally discovered how hackers hack something I have a better understand of how to protect my digital downloads.

To Your Success,
Susan

Please leave a comment or rate this tip. Thanks

Tags: making a thank you page, how to protect digital downloads, how does a hacker hack something, stop internet hackers

A Product Without A Market

On Monday I downloaded a video tutorial product on how to use the popular web host administration software, Cpanel. And since I use Cpanel to manage my sites and don't know that much about it I was excited to view the videos because I wanted to learn how to "use cPanel's bigger features to take your business to the next level of success." (A quote from the sales page.)

My reaction after watching the few videos over the the topics I wanted to know about most was... disappointment and then confusion.

You see, 99% of the information on these videos is given freely in the video instructions provided by my hosting service. The 3 primary differences in the purchased videos and the Cpanel webhost instruction videos are:

1. The purchased videos have audio while the webhost instruction videos have caption boxes that must be read.


2. There are a few little tidbits of new information such as, check with your hosting company about size limitations on complete backups. Evidentially backing up a large site may exceed some hosting company's limitations and your site could be shut down for exceeding the limit.


3. The purchased videos did show the correct sequence for doing a task like moving a mySQL database from one host to another. So while the actual Cpanel mySQL instructions could be found in the webhost instruction videos the purchased video showed me the order to do things if I wanted to move my database.

Now I must admit that I am still disappointed since I don't feel like I learned to use cPanel's bigger features to take my business to the next level of success and now I am wondering why they were created.

My first thought was that some value was added to the free information so this product was created to fill a need in some niche market. So I did some market research.

Using the free Nichbot keyword tool I discovered that there was a daily average of 112 searches for cpanel for the last 100 days (good) and there are over 7 million sites found for that search term (really bad). So I dug down to find a possible search phrase. Unfortunately I could not identify any phrase that had a decent number of searches, a fair amount of competition and could be correctly used for this product.

I then tried several other words and phrases and still couldn't identify any keywords or phrases that could be used to get some search engine traffic looking for information provided in this product.

Still thinking it was me and my lack of knowing what niche market this product was created for I decided to checkout the competition at ClickBank. Would you believe I found a total of 4 products across all categories when I searched for Cpanel? I tried some other product related searches and found either no products or products that had nothing to do with web host administration except for those selling web hosting service.

Now I am sure this product will get sold to a few however I doubt that anyone will make very much since most of the information is freely available and there doesn't appear to be much of a market for this type of information. And that's why I'm confused.

Since it took time to make and market these videos and since time is money, why would an experienced internet marketer waste their time doing it. And yes, this product was created by an experienced internet marketer. He just didn't put his name on it.

Oh well, at least 2 good things came from those videos:

1. An example of how to make a product where there isn't much of a market.


2. I found a video that emphasizes how some waste their time doing harm to those who don't deserve it.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. In case you're wondering if I asked for a refund the answer is no because I didn't buy the product. I got it from a membership site where I get lots of new products every month.

Also, if you're interested in some free Cpanel video tutorials become a free member of this site because there are 29 available to all free members.

Please leave a comment or rate this tip. Thanks

Tags: web host administration software, Cpanel Webhost Instruction, Cpanel, niche market research, time is money, don't waste time

How To Find A Niche Market - Passion or Market Research

You've probably read several articles or ebooks about how to start an online business. And what do they say about choosing your niche? They probably all advised you to focus your business around something you are either passionate about or on something you know a lot about. And while this is usually the best advice when starting because of the amount of time and work you'll be spending on your business, it isn't always the best.

For many, telling them to focus their business around their passion or expertise doesn't work. You see there are many who have jobs and hobbies however they aren't passionate about them. They know enough to do their jobs and hobbies however they don't consider themselves an "expert" so they don't think they have anything to share.

So today, rather than tell you how to find a niche within your market I'll focus on finding a niche market when you aren't passionate about anything.

The first thing you must know is that there are 3 things all online businesses need to succeed. They are:
People looking for information or products
People willing to buy the information or products online
Good products or information to sell them
Now whether you're passionate about your niche or not the niche market you choose must have these things.

So when you are passionate about something after you've picked what your business will be about you do market research to identify your targeted niche by identifying the types of things people are looking for and the things they are willing to buy.

However when you aren't passionate about something you start by doing the market research first. In other words, first find something a lot of people want to know about and identify what they're willing to pay for.

Here's an example:

This morning I went to a keyword research tool and typed in - how to. I found there were 1536 searches daily for "how to play soccer." I also found there were more than 93,000 pages listed for that search term on Google. The thing that's interesting is that this is the number 1 site for that search term -
http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/soccer/soccerfull.html

The site soyouwanna isn't focused on 1 product type. Instead they've identified their niche market as people who want to learn how to do things. As such they have lots of information about lots of things.

And the same thing happened when I did a search on "how to play basketball." (Without the quotes.) I found 1389 daily searches, over 600,000 sites found and the number 1 site was -
http://www.howtodothings.com/sports-and-recreation/a3447-how-to-play-basketball.html

Now I'm not suggesting you try to identify your niche with the phrase "how to ..." because that's where everyone before you has gone and they have pretty much established themselves. However if you do know enough about something to write some articles you may still want to investigate to see if this information is something people are looking for and if there's very much competition.

Or you could do some research on what you're interested in right now like I did.

Earlier this month I wanted to share some craft ideas on my blog. However before I wrote the articles I did some keyword research and found the phrase - homemade halloween crafts and decorations - as something people were searching for and there was almost no competition. So I wrote the articles centered around my keywords.

Now in the event you don't have an interest that anyone is searching for then you can always start by looking for a product that has information people want. Did you know that the 9th most popular product in ClickBank's Home & Family category is "Discus Fish Secrets", there are 240 searches a month for: discus fish care and feeding - and there is very little competition? Oh, you don't know anything about Discus Fish. Me either but then I didn't really know anything about pumpkin painting when I wrote that article either.

The important thing to remember about picking your niche market is that you must do some research. You must find out what people are looking for and willing to buy online. Then you find good products or services to sell. And then you put in the time and effort to become an "expert" so you can give information that will draw traffic and make sales.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: how to find a niche market, how to find target market, niche target market, market niche examples, niche target market

Should Freedom of Speech Ever Be Restricted?

Image via Wikipedia

This week I was going to write a tip about how to find a niche market however I changed my plans after a disturbing call from 1 of my daughters.

On Wednesday, October 15, while driving home she was almost run off the road not once but twice. Fortunately she managed to avoid having an accident both times however she was extremely shaken up by this ordeal.

Now my daughter has been driving home from work 5 days a week on this same highway for several months and nothing like this has ever happened before. So my question to her was why - Why would someone try to run you off the road?

She had no idea since she was keeping up with traffic and was staying in the "slow" lane. The only thing different about her, her car and her driving was that the night before she had put a political bumper sticker endorsing the candidate she was supporting on her car.

Now we don't know for a fact that it was the bumper sticker that incited 2 people to the point of trying to scare or hurt her. But to be safe she did remove the sticker.

As her mother I was very upset with what had happened and was relieved to hear she had removed the sticker.

As an American I was outraged by what had happened!

Having lived through a lot of presidential campaigns I know that fear and hate are common campaign tactics and you can't believe a lot of what's said. I also know that presidential elections cause a lot of mixed emotions.

But to have someone afraid to state who they support in an upcoming election...

To me that's UN-AMERICAN!!!

In a country where freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment in the Constitution no one should be afraid to state their political commitment on a bumper sticker or anywhere else. And those who resort to violence when someone doesn't agree with them should move to a country that supports that type of reaction.

Of course I know they won't move because they want the right to say whatever they want. They just don't want to extend that same right to others who disagree with them.

In America we have the freedom of choice and the freedom to state our choice in a non-violent way. Many have died to give us these rights.

So no matter what your political beliefs I encourage everyone to:

• Have your own opinion and respect the opinion of others.


• Share your opinion with others and listen when others share theirs.


• Don't just listen to campaign ads and debates but also do your "due diligence" and learn the truth.


• When election day comes, Vote.


• And whether your candidate wins or loses, lets all agree to work together to make our country strong and unified.

To paraphrase something my high school government teacher once said -

You have the right to disagree with someone but your right ends just before your fist hits them.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Since we're all now protected by the USA Patriot Act those who are publicly stating things like "Off with his head" and "Kill xxx" during political rallies may want to watch their backs because:

Sec. 802. in TITLE VIII—STRENGTHENING THE CRIMINAL LAWS AGAINST TERRORISM of the Patriot Act states:

"Definition of domestic terrorism. Both the House and Senate bills included this provision to define the term "domestic terrorism" as a counterpart to the current definition of "international terrorism" in 18 U.S.C. §2331. The new definition for "domestic terrorism" is for the limited purpose of providing investigative authorities (i.e., court orders, warrants, etc.) for acts of terrorism within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Such offenses are those that are

"(1) dangerous to human life and violate the criminal laws of the United States or any state; and

(2) appear to be intended (or have the effect) – to intimidate a civilian population; influence government policy intimidation or coercion; or affect government conduct by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping (or a threat of)." Same as Administration proposal."

And while I don't believe either the Democratic or Republican candidate falls into a Patriot Act protected group those doing the yelling do. And if they're right and I'm wrong then they should also know that Sec. 102 of TITLE I—ENHANCING DOMESTIC SECURITY AGAINST TERRORISM states:

"Sense of Congress condemning discrimination against Arab and Muslim Americans. Both the House and Senate bills included this provision to condemn acts of violence and discrimination against Arab Americans, American Muslims, and Americans from South Asia, and to declare that every effort must be taken to protect their safety."

The above quotes were taken from http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200110/102401a.html

Tags: presidential campaign violence, freedom of speech, act of violence, freedom of speech and constitution, freedom of speech the first amendment, should freedom of speech ever be restricted

How to Help My Web Site Get Found for Free

In June of 2000 Netcraft.com reported that here were approximately 18,200,000 websites and only about half of them were active. However as of September, 2008 they reported that there were 181,277,835 websites and approximately 72,800,000 were active.

With numbers like this you've got your work cut out for you to get your web site found!

Now before you give up and say it's impossible to compete with over 72 million websites let me tell that it's not impossible and while the numbers are overwhelming they aren't as bad as it appears on the surface.

You see, once you've picked your targeted niche market the number of compete ting websites goes down significantly. And the more targeted your market the more the number of competitors goes down.

So while there may be over 72 million websites you are only competing with the fraction of sites in your targeted niche.

So how do you get your web site found for free?

First you've got to pick you target niche. You want a niche that has some competition but not too much.

Second, you need to find the keywords people are using when searching for things in your niche.

Third, you should get a domain name, blog name or social networking site title that contains at least 1 of your keywords.

Forth, you must put content on your site and be aware that keyword density on every page and every article is important.

Fifth, you've got to promote your site using free web site promotion services like:

• blogs


• forums


• article directories


• social networking sites


• free ezine advertising


• press releases


• joint ventures


• search engines

Do you have to do all of them?

No - You only need to a few of them. The 1 you should be most concerned about is getting found by the search engines because that's what your potential customers use when they're looking for something.

The truth is: while the other free methods may help you get your site found immediately by a few, having a link to your site posted on those other types of sites will actually help you get your site found by many in the search engines. It won't happen immediately but it will happen.

To get a free report on some of best ways to optimize your site to get a good search engine ranking click here.

To Your Success,
Susan

Please leave a comment or rate this tip. Thanks

Tags: web site get found for free, get website found for free, get website found, get web site found for free, get web site found, free seo report

October 2008

This month Michael has asked that we take a look at his site because according to him: "I know it could use some help and I am looking forward to all constructive opinions."

Now I've taken a look and I think you'll find that making some constructive comments a challenge.

So when you're ready to put your web master skills to the test go to
http://www.stressfreetaxhelp.com/

Then either post constructive comments or send them to me to have them added as part of the blog article.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: site review

What Can We Learn From Hot Skateboarders?

Image by MattLaws via Flickr

Ever heard of Tony Hawks, Ryan Sheckler or Anthony Shetler? They're popular names around my house.

You see, my grandson is really into the whole skateboard scene and the hot skateboarders I've just mentioned are just 3 of his idols.

Now for those of you who aren't skateboard enthusiasts let me tell you that most pro skateboarders are not only talented skateboarders, they're also pretty smart. They've taken their passion for something that wasn't widely known about a few years ago and helped turn it into a multi-million dollar industry.

Here's what I mean.

Tony Hawks - Retired Pro Skateboarder / Hawk Clothing
As a child Tony Hawks was considered a "troubled kid" so his parents had him psychologically evaluated and discovered he was "gifted". Tony took up skateboarding because he found it was something he liked and could focus on which helped turn him into the world's most recognizable skateboarder today. He's now retired from skateboarding and has established the Tony Hawk Foundation.

Steve Caballero - Pro Skateboarder / Artist:
Steve was born with scoliosis which made his head tilt to one side. He is also an active in artist and produces more than just new skateboard deck designs. His determination to overcome his disability was proven when he became a successful pro skateboarder and when he skated at the closing ceremonies at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Danny Way - Pro Skateboarder / Co-Founder of DC Shoe Co USA
Danny's father died when he was 8 months old and for most of his childhood he had a single parent. In 1995 he broke his neck surfing and in 2000 he had his first knee surgery. (He's had 7.) Neither the lack of a parent during his childhood or his previous injuries stopped him from jumping the Great Wall of China (first non-motorized jump of wall in history) in 2005.

Will my grandson be able to make his dream of being a pro skateboarder come true?

I don't know although he has learned a very important lesson for life and that is: he must be determined and overcome obstacles to make his dream come true. You see, he lives in an area where there are no skate parks or instructors and he has no place to practice except on broken up sidewalks and badly maintained brick streets. And yet he still holds onto his dream by learning tricks from YouTube videos and practicing for several hours a day.

So what can we as internet marketers learn from my grandson and the hot skateboarders I've mentioned?

How about:

• Ryan Sheckler (at 13 he was the youngest skateboarder to go pro until this year when an 11 year old amazed everyone)
  "Don’t ever give up. You gotta keep trying, and never give up."
  
• Anthony Shetler (grew up as a ghetto little kid with no friends)
  "Find something that makes you happy and hang on to it."
  
• Dan MacFarlane (started Mentality Skateboards in 2003)
  "The only limits you have are the limits you set on yourself."

I think Daniel Haney a retired pro skateboarder summed it up when he gave this advice for underdogs trying to make it in the pro skateboarding game:

"First of all of if you aren’t doing it for love then you need to rethink what you are doing. Some people have talent and that is great. I am sure it is much easier for them. I, on the other hand, am not naturally gifted. ... I worked my a** off to get to where I got. I did it because skateboarding was my life. There was nothing else. ... I sure as h*** wasn’t going to give up on following my dreams. No matter who told me it wouldn’t happen, Todd. So with that being said, if you have some talent and a lot of heart make that s*** work for you. Never say die. It is all possible, trust me. I came from nothing and made something. Granted it wasn’t much but it was enough to make me happy and in the end that is all that really matters….your individual happiness."
(taken from thrashermagazine.com, Nov. 14, 2007)

Yes, pro skateboarders are talented and smart. They've found something they're passionate about. They've worked hard to develop it. They've overcome all the obstacles put in their way. They continued to learn and master new things. And they have achieved their dream.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Please leave a comment or rate this tip. Thanks

Tags: hot skateboarders, Tony Hawks, Ryan Sheckler, Anthony Shetler, Steve Caballero, Danny Way, Dan MacFarlane, Daniel Haney, skateboarder quotes professioanl skateboarders, retired skateboarders

Why is Education So Important?

Image via Wikipedia

While getting ready to write today's tip I was interrupted by a phone call from my youngest daughter, Shawna. And while I love talking with her my first thought was how she had really called at a bad time.

However that thought quickly left my mind because, as usual, my daughter made me think.

You see, Shawna has always been a thought provoking person. As a preschooler she was always asking questions like:

• Why is the sky blue?
• Why is the grass green?
• Why does the sun look yellow?

Then as she got older she started asking questions about the things she learned in school like:

• Why does 4 + 4 = 8?
• Why are to, too and two all pronounced the same but have different meanings and different spellings?
• Who makes up these rules?

Now as a parent I was both happy and flustered by my daughter's questions. You see, I was happy because I knew it was the people who asked "why" who were the creators of all the technology and art we have today. However I was also flustered because I knew I couldn't always answer her questions.

And when I was flustered I looked to the education system to provide the answers to her questions. Now I can't speak about all the educational systems throughout the world however I can say that the one we have in the U.S. was a big disappointment.

How did the educational system disappoint me?

Going back to Shawna's days in elementary school she was accepted into the "Gifted and Talented" program. (That's where they put the fast learners on a fast-track learning system.) Before I signed the consent form for her placement I interviewed the teachers to find out what being in this program meant.

It meant the kids would be learning the same things as everyone else, only faster. That sounded fine until I asked, "What happens when a child asks a question?" and the answer was, "We don't allow questions."

A further discussion revealed that being on the fast-track simply meant that a child could absorb the material quickly so they could cover more. There was no time for questions, explanations or discussions.

Needless to say, Shawna didn't like being on the fast-track and we requested her removal during the first week. While there were many times she was board in the regular class the teachers did allow questions and tried to explain things.

Now while I am disappointed in our educational system I also know that it has failed for many people. People who are extremely bright and full of question; people who are full of ideas and creativity have no place in our public school system.

Have you ever wondered why some school dropouts became self-made billionaires? Maybe it wasn't because they were too dumb for school. Maybe it was because our form of formal education was too dumb for them. Ever hear of Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Subhash Chandra Goel, Michael Dell, Paul Allen or Sir Richard Branson? (Sorry, I couldn't find any female self-made billionaires so if you know of any please leave a comment and share.)

Going back to my discussion with Shawna, today she asked the question, "Why do people want their kids to go to college and yet they hold a college education against most people?"

So I went to YahooAnswers to find the answer. And sure enough, a couple of years ago someone asked the question, "Why is an education so important?" and here are most of the reasons:

• "we need education to get jobs to get money to live"
• "$$$ is the answer"
• "It is important to employers, they feel that if you have an education you have perseverance and you are trainable."
• "make more money"

Yet for the same question we also get this answer:

• "We have been conditioned to respect institutions of higher learning as the be all, end all, of knowledge. Ever heard of an educated idiot? You can spend 5 years at Yale and come out with no common sense whatsoever, but be a whiz in what a book teaches about physics.
  . . .
  It's all about money nowadays anyhow."

Now I don't agree with those who answered the question on YahooAnswers. Here's a short video with the answer I do agree with. (You only need to watch the first half to see my answer since the second half is a bad version of some outtakes.)

Unfortunately here's what's going on in some of our higher educational institutions. You may want to keep your cursor close to the pause button so you can stop the video to read some of the writing on the walls and chairs.

Looks like getting a higher education is a waste of money for many since these kids are board with it.

As for what's wrong with our educational system, here's a video by Ken Robinson I think everyone should watch. And while the video is a little long, Sir Robinson is a great public speaker and I think you'll find his talk both enlightening and entertaining.

Now no matter what you do on or off-line and no matter whether you dropped out of school or got a college degree, a good education is important if you want to succeed because a good education will give you the knowledge of how to do things. And a good education can come from both formal institutions and everyday life and experiences. The important thing to remember is that education is important not because of what you learn to do, it's important because of what you can do. A good education teaches you to think for yourself and to use your creative mind to make the world a better place to live.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. BTW Shawna is not a school dropout. Hopefully next year she will have completed her dissertation and have her PhD in Cultural Anthropology. Alas, anthropology is not among the highest paying fields but at least she still has her common sense and she really enjoys what she's doing.

Please leave a comment if you agree or disagree that internet marketing requires knowing how to do things and creativity.

Tags: why is education so important, why is it important to have a good education, why it is important to have a good education

A Free Way To Make Your Blog Fun

Since I had so much fun last week creating a slideshow I've decided to do another 1 this week . Here's another free online resource I just discovered.

Makeblogfun

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: free pluginwordpress)

Was this tip useful? Please leave a comment and let me know.

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: free blog plugin, slideshow

When You're Not Ready For Video

Today I'd like to share another quick, easy and free way to get traffic to your website. But rather that tell you about it I'll show you.

When Your Not Ready For Video

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: information showshare)

The above slideshow was created in less than 15 minutes using the free software from OpenOffice.org and I created my account and uploaded the show in less than an hour.

How's that for quick, easy and free?

To Your Success,
Susan

If you found this tip useful please let me know by leaving a comment.

Tags: free website traffic, slideshow, video

September 2008

Image via Wikipedia

This month we get to help Simon with his site at:

http://www.simonp.org/

Please take a look because I'm sure you can help. Then either post constructive comments or send them to me to have them added as part of the blog article.

To Your Success,
Susan

********************

Comments:

I only had a three things bothered me on the site (not necessarily in the following order).

1st, the yellow font on white background was hard to read.

2nd, the falling leaves seemed to distract me from what I was trying to focus on.

3rd, I would rather have a pop up after viewing the initial page, or maybe just a link to a squeeze page.

Beyond that, the site appeared to be real clean which may change as more info is added. I really didn't click on all the links and follow them.

Darell
http://www.ebooklisting.net/

*****

There's a very good bit of advice that we are all given when it comes tomaking a web site, and that is to sit with pen and paper and PLAN thesite. In other words, decide on the design, from colour schemes towhere we want to put X or Y or Z, and of course the important aspectof the priority of the site, the message we want visitors to get, preferablyas soon as they land on the site, but definitely before they leave.

This site needs serious overhaul in all those areas, starting with the relative size of the images, whether banners or photographs, and alsothe use or over-use of white space. The drop in box offering the freesoftware is far too big for the rest of the images on screen, so it detracts instead of adding to the appeal.

Similarly, the link referring to THE FOREST opens the affiliate pagefor AUTOMATIC BUILDER.COM, and throws up another instantcomparison with the main page, so Simon, have a close look at thatpage (quite likely to have been designed by a professional!), andcheck how symmetrical everything is, how well the spaces are used,how much the site looks as if everything is part of ONE big picture.

Some of your links come up in a YELLOW colour which is impossibleto read in both Firefox and Internet Explorer 7, and the latter puts upan error message saying DONE BUT ERRORS ON PAGE, whichusually means error or errors in the HTML coding. Finally, the linebeginning WELCOME should be the last line on the page with youremail link just above it, to keep all the information/contact linksgrouped together. Above everything else, you should be able tolook at the site and immediately answer the question....What isthis guy saying or selling to me? Look for example at this site:http://www.friendswhocare.us/newsletter/

Best of luck, and congrats on your efforts so far.
*********************************
Syd,
http://www.leisureaudiobooks.com/?aid=133097

********************

My Comments:

I'd like to thank everyone who left and sent in comments about Syd's site. You did such a great job there's nothing left for me to say.

So thank you all for helping Syd with his site and making my job easier.

Susan

Tags: site review

September 3,2008

Ever think of having a city directory?

Art did and he's got one for a prime location.

http://primesandiego.com/

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: featured site, san diego, city directory

How To Start Making Money For Free

Before the days of Web 2.0 and all the free social networking services you used to have your own domain name and web site to have a money making internet business. Today however you can "test the waters" of internet marketing or finding a new targeted niche absolutely free.

8 Steps To Making Money Online For Free

1. Choose your niche - Before you do anything else you need to pick the types of products or services you want to sell and then become an affiliate for these things.
   


2. Build your list of keywords and phrases - Select keywords and phrases related to the types of things your going to be selling. This list contains the actual words and phrases that people are searching for on the major search engines.
   


3. Create you free blog or social networking site - When you name your free site be sure to use 1 or more of your keywords or phrases in the name. Try to keep it fairly short and very easy to remember.
   


4. Build your list of keywords and phrases for the product you're going to write about - Again, this list contains the words and phrases people are searching for when they are looking for information related to your first product.
   


5. Create the title for your article - Your title should contain 1 or more of your keywords or phrases.
   


6. Write your article - When you write your review or summary article about your product write in a conversational style, sprinkle some of your keywords and keyword phrases in the content and be sure to include your affiliate link.
   


7. Post your article - Put your article on your Web 2.0 free site.
   


8. Repeat steps 4 - 7 often.
   

You'll notice I didn't title the steps as quick or easy. The truth is, while they are quick and easy if you know how there is a learning curve to knowing how to do them correctly.

Here are 3 of examples for what I mean about "knowing how":

• When you choose your niche you need to find out if people in that niche actually buy things online and what types of products they buy.
  


• To build your keyword and phrase lists you need to know how to do keyword research.
  


• If you don't like or know how to write content you need to learn some of the techniques for creating content for non-writers.
  

So yes it has never been easier to have a free online presence and it can be absolutely free to start money making online. However, you need to invest your time into learning what to research and how to do it. You need to learn how to set up your free blog or site. You need to learn how to write content to sell. And above all you need to learn patience because making money online for free isn't usually quick and easy.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this tip.

Tags: how to start making money for free, absolutely free to start money making online, affiliate marketing model, make money with a blog, make money with social networking

August 22, 2008

Looks like Ronald used the service I told you about not too long ago. You can see what he's done with it at

http://www.blogger.com/www.mailinglistgold.synthasite.com

To Your Success,
Susan

Tags: featured site

What Goes Around Comes Around

Isn't it interesting that when we here the above phrase we usually equate it to "If you do something bad then something bad will happen to you"?

But there is a positive side ...

If you do good things then good things will happen to you.

Now you're probably wondering what this has to do with internet marketing so I'll tell you.

To succeed online you usually have to give and give and give some more before you some positive things start coming back to you.

So today I want to tell you about 1 way you can give something that won't cost you any money and at the same time you can help others and your business.

Ever hear of Yahoo Answers?

If you haven't it's a site where regular people can ask just about anything and anyone with a Yahoo account can post an answer. Oh there are some "community guidelines" like you've got to be at least 13 year old and be courteous and you can't exploit, cheat or break the law.

Now the 3 really neat things about Yahoo Answers are that:

1. There are questions about just about everything so you'll probably find some where you know the answer.


2. When you post your answer you can include a resource link.


3. You can help others with your answers. And by including a resource link pointing to your relevant site or affiliate product you're getting a backlink.

Here's a question I answered last night.

The important things to remember about using Yahoo Answers are:

• Answer open questions. Providing a comment to a resolved question is not nearly as effective.


• Obey the guidelines and provide a good quality answer that has the possibility of being voted "Best Answer."


• Include the keyword you are optimizing for in your answer the best way you can.


• Put your relevant link in the source box.


• Use "Advance Search" to find questions for your target niche.


• Using Yahoo Answers to get backlinks is a long term strategy. Don't think that answering 1 or 2 questions will get you a ton of traffic because it won't. Think of it as part of your long term goal to get quality backlinks and traffic.


• While investing an hour every once in awhile to get some quality backlinks on Yahoo Answers can be good for your business, you should schedule your time. You have a business to run and Yahoo Answers is only 1 part of your strategy so don't spend all your time there.

Check out Yahoo Answers. It's a high traffic site, it's free and it's a place where you can help someone.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. If you found this tip useful please let me know by leaving a comment.

Tags: yahoo answers, backlinks, targeted traffic, backlink strategy, answer question, help others